In an age when overstimulation and processed pop culture pervade every aspect of children’s lives, it can be difficult to use new learning technology without overwhelming little ones with commercial messages. Art ABC is a beautifully designed educational experience that takes the high road.

Epic Hearts is a hot new RPG drop in the iTunes App Store from the talented dev team that gave us Secret of Chateau de Moreau. Secret of Chateau de Moreau is an exceptional adventure mystery game, while Epic Hearts is an action RPG, but it does have one thing in common with its predecessor. It’s impressive.

Lich Defense from Jelly Oasis just made its way into the iTunes App Store. While each game should be judged on its own merit, it’s worth mentioning (for several reasons) that Jelly Oasis has another tower defense megastar in iTunes, the similarly named Elf Defense. For those familiar with the previous game, they’ll find plenty familiar (and plenty of new content) in Lich Defense.

Wannabat, a newly launched game from Vitusoft, has its bases covered. This one-on-one 3D baseball game practically oozes personality, and it won’t take a sports buff to find themselves hooked on hitting homeruns.

Keri Racing casts a wide net, promising to fulfill your social network farming and tycoon gameplay dreams, pet-raising play, and even throws in action-packed racing modules that include real-time competition against friends and family. Can one mobile game deliver all of this gameplay goodness?

Amazing Kitty from Shiconal is a feel-good feline-themed puzzle matching game that is practically guaranteed to have players addicted from the get-go.

The simple premise of this friendly little matching game is to get two of the bouncy, square-ish kitties that look alike to touch-and to tap them before they lose contact, and meet each stage’s clear-condition goal. Sounds familiar enough, right? Don’t get too ahead of yourself—Amazing Kitty might sound like a typical matching game, but it has plenty of charm all its own.

Bloody Western: the title says it all. This social network games-inspired RPG is a great games with friends option for those who like their gaming and socializing to intersect. A ton of content and a truly impressive adherence to theme make Bloody Western one of the best games for guys I’ve played on iOS this year.